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Vengeance of the Forgotten
Visto is not an usual Matoran. He has chosen to live at the wastelands of Tehktra Nui, and lives peacefully with his pack of Desert Apes. But when he tires to defend a village of Po-Matoran, he finds himself immersed in something bigger than he even had imagined... Prologue Life in the wastelands of Tehktra Nui wasn’t easy. Every day was a face off with death. Every drop of water, every slice of food, had to be fought over. The heat was insupportable during the majority of the day, and at night it was blood-freezing. Still, some creatures thrived in that inhospitable habitat. A Nivawk hawk flew high above the dunes. Though the species to which it belonged naturally fed off of fish and small terrestrial Rahi, the current situation had lead that specimen to scavenging habits. Seeking out for dead Rahi was much easier and gave more profit than hunting fish. So it fixated its sight on the sand, waiting to see some rotting corpse. In the distance, it saw a shape between two small sand dunes. It was its lucky day. The Nivawk Hawk flew off to the location of the corpse, and landed next to it. It was a dead Nui-Jaga, the biggest it had seen in all its life, and a small, humanoid corpse laying next to it. The Nivawk hawk started eating the eyes of the Nui Jaga. They were the most nutritious part of a rotting corpse. After it was done with the eyes, it started breaking the mechanical exo-shell of the Nui-Jaga, and it finally arrived to the flesh inside. Maybe, if the Nivawk hadn’t been so concentrated in its feast, it would have noticed the sand shifting behind it, and a massive, fanged mouth erupting from behind, and swallowing the hawk whole… Chapter 1 Visto awoke slowly, and got out of his softened cactus bed. He walked to the entrance of the cave, and saw the sunrise. The light flooded the sea of dunes, creating effects of shadows. The red light contrasted with the turquoise color of the sky. Though the sight was breathtaking, Visto knew that it just was the start of the day at the wastelands, a moment in which heat started to raise until it arrived to boiling hot temperatures. Then he turned, and saw his pack of Desert Apes. They were his companions, his friends, his life… if ever something happened to them, Visto didn’t know if he would perish too. But that wasn’t the biggest of his worries at the time. That day, it was Visto’s turn to go to find food and drink for the pack. Visto approached Genx, who already was awake, and jumped on her back. “Let’s go, Genx. We should return with some Vutaca Maca and fresh water before the sun is high on the sky.” His Desert Ape friend made a low growl in agreement, and began galloping towards the sea of sand. As Visto got distracted again, he contemplated the vast, empty plains in awe. He was alone; there was no other Matoran save him in the deserts. Some Matoran that he had once met had asked him why he lived there. The matoran that lived in the cities didn’t understand his style of life. Basically, he was free. He didn’t pay taxes, he hadn’t access to the KMES service, and he even wasn’t in the list of Matoran of Tehktra Nui. Basically, for the vast majority of the universe, he didn’t exist. And he did like the situation. Because, after all, who could tell him what he had to do? There was nobody in the desert who could bend his will. He was only under the rules of nature, the only ones that he would ever follow and respect. Some called him an outcast, the ‘hippie’, but he didn’t care. He also had some supporters on the city, and he had been rebuilt for his great efforts to protect the wastelands, the last stripe of land not polluted, from poachers and speculators. While thinking about all that, Visto hadn’t noticed that they had arrived to their destination. The walls of a rock formation stood in front of him. He got out of Genx’s back, and brought the Desert Ape with him to a tunnel. After passing through the dark passage, he finally saw the oasis. It made a strong contrast with the rest of the Wastelands. While finding a stain of green in the dunes was extremely difficult, in that valley inside the rock formation the climate seemed to be different. Visto always wondered how vegetation could grow there. In reality it had no difference from the outside. Water couldn’t be seen anywhere, and the ground was sterile. But it didn’t matter. He started collecting Vutaca Maca fruits from the trees. There were also some Madu, from which he would extract water. He climbed a tree, and caught a few Vutaca Maca. Those fruits were a very important source of energy, and one for matoran was enough in a day. He would just take the ones that he needed for his pack, and let the tree have time to recover and grow new ones. When he climbed down, he went to Genx, who was sitting between two Madu trees. When he had put the Vutaca Maca fruits on the pack that Genx carried, Visto saw the light reflecting on a metallic object… Thanks to his experience, Visto was able to push Genx away in time, avoiding the shot. “Hey, poacher, don’t hide! Or do you fear a single Matoran and a Desert Ape?” The poacher, who was still hidden behind one of the trees, fired another bullet at Visto, this time flying so close to his Kanohi that the shot almost scratched it. However, this allowed Visto discover the poacher’s hiding spot. The poacher was a black armored matoran, and he was behind some Bula bush. Visto ran to it, but was met by a gust of shots in the floor in front of him. Visto rolled on the floor, and grabbed an un-ripe Madu fruit from the floor. He threw it at the Bula bush, causing a small explosion. This allowed Genx to run to the poacher, and pin it to the floor. Visto went to the spot where the poacher was, and watched him with hatred. His expression through his noble Kanohi Matatu was cold. “Haven’t you learnt anything from the other poachers that I had to chase a month ago? The desert is no place for you. It’s just for the Rahi, who live in peace, and you are nobody to disturb it.” The Onu-Matoran raised his head, and spat to the ground. “You are scum. You are inferior, you are at the same level that your beloved apes have.” Genx pressed harder, and the poacher’s body started to skin in the soft ground. “Stop, Genx. We don’t have to do what he would do, or else we would be at the same low, dirty level as him.” Genx lowered his grip on the poacher. Visto looked directly at the Onu-matoran, who was wearing a fire-orange noble Mahiki. Why had Matoran from the city always had to come and kill innocent Rahi just for money? For a moment, he though about punishing the poacher, but knowing that it would be useless, he ordered Genx to let him go. “This time I’ll let you go, but I don’t want to see you around here anymore. And I’m taking this.” Visto caught the poacher’s gun from the floor, and gave it to Genx. The Desert Ape crushed it with its fist. “You are warned. Don’t come back.” Then the poacher ran to the tunnel that was the entrance to the rock formation. “Why I am so unlucky, Genx? Now, as I presume that he has some friends out there, we will have to get another route to go back to our cave.” Genx growled, and Visto calmed her down. “I know, we will have to pass through the Nui-Jaga’s hunting region, and we probably won’t make it at time, but it’s the only option. If we don’t do that the poachers will track us to our cave and kill our friends.” Visto jumped on Genx’s back, and the Desert Ape started to walk towards the exit. The sun was already high in the sky. They were late, and as Visto knew, by that new route they would arrive even later. Chapter 2 It was already late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to sink in the endless sea of sand. The sky was scarlet, and a few clouds filled the sky; to thin and to high to bring rain. Visto’s plan originally included returning before midday, but choosing the new route had delayed him. Since midday, they had stopped trekking under the sun and rested in a small cave in a canyon that they had come across. That section was the rockiest one of the wastelands. Many canyons and small ridges filled the landscape, cutting the always distant horizon. But it was also one of the most dangerous parts of the wastelands. From his cave, Visto and Genx had had to hide behind some rocks to avoid been seen by Nui-Jaga, which occasionally walked across the canyon. Also, in the plains between the small mountain ridges and rock formations, there were nests of Sand Tarakava. Visto looked at the wall of the canyon in front of them, bored. Reddish light flooded the canyon, and a weak breeze made small grains of sand slide like a tan tide. He turned and looked at his favorite Desert Ape, Genx. “I think that we should get going. I doubt that we will arrive before morning, but this is no good place for shelter at night. Small caves like this are the ones that Vako herds seek. It’s better to not cross our way with them. They can stampede at us if they see us. They don’t like Matoran, or Desert Apes. I’m starting to think that they don’t like anybody outside their herds.” Genx rose from the floor, and got out of the small cave. Visto followed her. He mounted on the Desert Ape, which started climbing the canyon wall. How much time had Visto spent with the Desert Apes? Perhaps he had spent a dozen of years? Or maybe he had been with the Apes for even centuries? He didn’t really remember. Since he left the city, he had not counted months or years anymore. He had just done what any Rahi did every day of its life; focus on the moment, fight for the today and not be distracted by the past or the future. However he still remembered how he lived in the mudflats. The mudflats were the most peaceful and ecologic place in Tehktra Nui, as the main business activity there was the seaweed farming. He still remembered the friends he had there, his allies into the anti-pollution campaign, and the relationship that he had had with the Ga-Matoran nurse Galo. He had left her in order to be able to live his current life in the wastelands. It had been a hard decision, but a necessary one. Leaving everything behind him, he had went to live the wilderness… sometimes he wondered if he had made the right decision. But all doubts vanished when he remembered of all the work that still had to be done at the wastelands of Tehktra Nui. And he felt alone. He always told to himself that being alone was an advantage, but it was really a lie. He had the hope that someday, one of those allies that he had in Agrav, in the mudlfats or in the city would come and stay with him… then he realized that he truly wasn’t alone. Genx, and the other Apes, had accepted him and made him one of them, something that most of the Matoran in Thektra Nui hadn’t. Then something caught Visto’s eye. They were far from the canyon were they had passed the midday, and were in a sandy plain, dotted with jagged rocks. But there was something strange. Gesturing Genx to stop, Visto got out of the apes’s back and stared at the dunes that extended and enveloped the landscape around him… One of the rocks shook, followed by another next to it. The temors continued, knocing away many rocks at its path. Visto noticed something bad; the disturbance bellow the sand and the rocks was coming straight at him. The Matoran started to run to its Desert Ape companion, but then the ground exploded in front of him, and the sand blinded him. Visto crouched in the floor, and when he recovered his vision, he saw it. A Makika frog, a big one, with sharp front claws, was being chased by a Red Serpent. Normally, Visto wouldn’t have done anything. But Red Serpents were not a natural part of the Tehktra Nui ecosystem. Somehow, those vicious had sneaked into the wastelands about three winters ago. The Red Serpents had a long, crimson body made of the strongest protodermis. Their skin was scaly, filled with spikes, and the head resembled that of the dreaded Rahkshi, with a powerful jaw and two horns. Since they had no natural predators, they had been decimating other species. They preferred hunting tactic was to use their camouflage powers to blend with the dunes, and attack any unlucky Rahi walking nearby. Visto had made many efforts to avoid that, such as blocking with rocks the paths that conduced to the hunting regions of the serpents. For those reasons, Visto managed to reunite all his courage and stop running to face the Red Serpent. He saw the Makika fending off the Serpent’s attack with its claws. Visto jumped on the Serpent, and grabbed it by the horns. However, Visto then received an electric shock from the horns, and fell to the floor. Visto twisted his body in the floor, crying in pain. The experience of having hundreds of bolts of lightning running through his body was new, and painful. He also had part of the armor in his hands scorched. The Red Serpent rammed at the Makika, sending it flying to a nearby rock, which was smashed by the impact. The red serpent then saw Visto in the floor, and determining that it was an easier prey than the Makika, which had a poisonous skin, raised its tail to finish the Matoran. At the last moment, Visto saw a flash of grey jumping above him. Genx charged at the Red Serpent and smashed its tail to a dune. Visto used the distraction to roll on the floor, and tried to rise to his feet. However, he couldn’t, and all he could do was grab a rock that was half buried in the sands and throw it to the monstrous red Rahi. He missed, but Genx was already taking care of the Red Serpent. Desert Apes were strong. Their muscles made them able to uproot trees and beat Rock Lions. Their armor could withstand high temperatures, and was resistant to most attacks from the Rahi of Tehktra Nui. But despite having all those abilities, Genx was loosing to the Red Serpent. The creature didn’t stop stinging the female Desert Ape with its tail, which ended in a sharp blade. Genx punched the Red Serpent in the head, and as the Serpent was coiled around her body, both fell to the ground, making a dust cloud raise. Once again, Visto threw a stone at the Red Serpent. This time it hit home, and the Red Serpent turned to face the Matoran of Plantlife. Breaking free of Genx’s grasp, the Red Serpent delivered a powerful blow with its tail. It nearly missed Visto’s noble Matatu, and Visto had to jump behind a dune to avoid a second attack of the Serpent. The light that the decaying sun provided was decreasing. Visto looked at the sky, and saw a Dune Nivawk flying above them. ''The Dune Nivawk presumes that somebody is going to die today, ''- thought Visto- ''but I’m going to make sure that it isn’t me or Genx. '' Taking advantage that the Serpent wasn’t paying attention at him, he ran to a pile of shattered rocks. There, he pulled the Makika from under the sand. The frong was unconscious. “Oh dear! Get up nasty Makika!” Visto shook the Makika, which awoke, upon seeing the Matoran, it jumped away, and then headed to the battle between Genx and the Red Serpent. The Red Serpent was obviously going to down Genx in a short time. Genx kicked the Serpent in the back, and when it was on the floor, she punched it. The snake Rahi rose again, and started to sting Genx. The female Desert Ape had been able to block most of the Red Serpent’s attacks, but she was tried. The Serpent hit Genx’s arms, and she fell onto a rock. But then something happened that only the mind of Visto had predicted. The Red Serpent screamed. Visto ran to Genx’s position and helped her out of there. When the Red Serpent turned its body, Visto could see the Makika biting the snake Rahi. Makika had a poisonous skin, and also had acidic saliva. With a cry of rage, the Red Serpent disappeared in the dunes. The Makika, after some time staring at Visto and Genx, went to the rocky canyons. “Let me examine you, Genx.” Visto looked at the injuries that his Rahi friend had. All of them were flesh wounds, and none of them important. But he had his hands nearly burnt. He mounted on Genx, and both rode away to a mountain ridge in front of them. Visto knew that there wasn’t time for them to go to their home with the rest of the desert Apes. Maybe in the ridge they would find a safe spot to camp and pass the night. One hour later, they were right in front of the mountain ridge. Night had fallen, and stars filled the sky. He stopped looking at the sky, and stared at the rocky walls in front of him. It was very strange. The rock formations that made it up didn’t have a random placement. Rather, they seemed to form a circle. Visto followed the rock wall, until something that he hadn’t expected happened. One of the rocks slid to the left, to reveal a Po-Matoran with dusty armor. “Welcome to our village traveler.” Chapter 3 The next morning, Visto awoke, and found that he wasn’t in his cave. He was in a stone hut, lying on an equally hard bed. He got up, still not remembering how he had got there. Then he looked at his hands, which were bandaged. When he saw that he remembered his fight with the Red Serpent, and the Po-Matoran living inside the rock formation. He quickly dusted off his armor, and got out of the hut. Outside, he saw the village. He was surprised, as it was very different from the villages that he had seen in the past. The walls that delimited the area were high and curved to the inside, something which provided shadow to the huts, and at the same time, made the whole village look like a small ridge from the outside. He couldn’t see any advanced technology; he even saw a pair of Po-Matoran pulling a cart full of mining equipment. In the center of the town there was big hole, and at its side an oxidized wagon, which vaguely resembled the ones in the Mines of Tehktra Nui many centuries back. “I see that you have awaked. Do you want to have a drink in my hut?” Visto followed him, still confused by the scene. The hut of that Po-Matoran was slightly bigger than the others, and its walls were filled with drills and other tools. The Matoran offered him a glass of water. “Take it. What is your name?” Visto quickly drank the water. “Visto. Can I ask your name, too?” “I am Jaka, the leader of this small settlement. You may be wondering why you are here. We found you, and your mount yesterday night, and saw that you where hurt.” “Where is Genx, the Desert Ape that accompanied me?” “She is in our cowshed, being healed by another Po-Matoran.” “I don’t want to be rude, but a question burns through my mind, Jaka. How can you be living here?” “Oh, let Kali, our expert in the village’s history, guide you through our existence. She lives next to the hut next to the one in which you awoke.” Visto went outside, and then approached the hut that Jaka had indicated him. He entered, and saw Kali carrying a bin full of broken earth. When she saw Visto, she dropped the bin, and the sand fell on the hut’s floor. She quickly put all the earth back to the bin, and put it aside in a corner of her hut. She came back to face Visto, her black Komau showing an embarrassed expression. “What do you want?” “Jaka told me that you could explain me the history of your village.” “Indeed, I can. Let’s go out.” “Wait a second, Kali.” Visto saw a poster of a Ta-Matoran in a wall of the hut. Nobody in Tehktra Nui admired Ta-Matoran, due to their association with the horrors of the Fire Kingdom. Unless… “It’s Moa, stranger. He is the best hover boarder of all Tehktra Nui, and to the day, no one has beaten him.” Moa had been the champion for many years in Tehktra Nui, but after a Le-Matoran, Aliki, had beaten him, Moa had escaped to another land. Visto wasn’t a hoverboarding fan, but he knew that happened a long time ago. “Will you be staring at that poster all the day?” “No, Kali. Where will you take me?” “Just follow and listen.” They exited the hut, and went to the hole at the center of the village. “Are we going to the mine?” “It’s not a mine anymore. I’ll start explaining our history as we descend to the mine and until we arrive to the upper level of it.” Visto looked down at the hole, and then at the wagon. “Do you pretend to go down on this thing?” Kali shook her head, assuming that was the most normal thing in the world. The two mounted on the wagon, which started to follow some rails. The rails reached the edge of the hole, and to Visto’s dismay, continued way down one of its walls. Visto expected to be thrown off the edge of the wagon, but instead, nothing happened. He opened his eyes, and found that they were descending without any problem. As he looked down, he saw the stone walls enclosing around him, and he was engulfed by darkness. It was not until nearly a minute later when a series of dirty bulbs illuminated their path. “You may not remember it, but a long time ago, there was a small rush for carbon in Tehktra Nui. Many companies started a race to get the best spots to mine, in the Onu section of the island. However, the carbon layers were thin, and they soon ran out. Many of the companies that had started mining went bankrupt, except for one or two, who started to monopolize the sector. However, one of these companies that had been unlucky on the Onu sector, Protomining.inc, decided to try something that none before had tried; mine in the wastelands. They spend a lot of money trying to search for a profitable spot to dig. >> This is when we came here. It’s been so long that we have forgotten where we lived before coming here. Well, back to the tale, they brought us here, built this village under the ridge, and gave us all sort of technology to dig as fast as possible. We were lucky, as the carbon layer bellow was rich. We started to dig, but eventually the bank from which Protomining.inc had gotten the loan from, lost its confidence in that the company would return it, and retired it. With Protomining.inc in the bankrupt, the leader didn’t even have enough money to take the mining equipment back.” Visto saw a mark in the tunnel wall, which told that they were bellow 300 meters from the surface. “If you had advanced technology, how comes that now you only have poorly built equipment?” “When Protomining.inc left us alone here, we didn’t yet know how to use most of the equipment. There is a saying that tells that ‘A sword in the hands of a Lava Ape is nothing but a fruit Peeler.’ We didn’t know how the tools functioned, so we took them apart to make our own, far simpler ones. Except for the gravity generators that were installed in this tunnel; this is the reason why we haven’t been throw out of the wagon.” “I haven’t seen any Matoran in the wastelands for years, Kali. How have you hidden so well during so long time?” “We never go outside our village during day. We regularly go to a rock formation near here, where we extract stones to make structures and ornaments.” Visto saw another mark in the wall. They were 800 meters bellow the surface. “And where do you get your food from?” “We have two more vertical tunnels, each in opposed tips of our village, for ground stability sake. In one of them, we cultivate a species of mushrooms and moss. And there is also a water stream there. The other tunnels is where we take the prosteel from.” “Haven’t you though of going back to the city, someday?” “We once though about that, but by then our maps were either too damaged or strayed.” “Just one more question. Do you know in which year we are?” “Nobody knows. We lost count after some centuries.” The wagon finally arrived at its destination, and it put itself on horizontal rails. Visto and Kali got out, and a Po-Matoran carrying a torch approached them. “Who is he, Kali?” “Call me Drekor, traveler. If you two wanted to wander around the mines and have a nice walk, that will have to wait for another day. Vetaregat is going to arrive shortly.” Visto and Kali jumped on the wagon once more, and started their vertical voyage. After 400 meters, Visto spoke. “Who is Vetaregat?” “He’s our only hope of going back to civilization.” After some minutes, they finally reached the surface. There, all the Po-Matoran was gathered around the entrance of the village, and a Ba-Matoran stood in the center of the crowd, holding a sieve with small metal fragments on it. Visto and Kali went to see what happened, and listened to the enraged Ba-Matoran. “What’s this? I’m paying you to get a bin of prosteel per day, not this piece of dung! Tomorrow, you will have to bring me twice the daily ration. If you don’t, I will leave you in the center of the wastelands, without any food of water, and I will bring my own workers to do what you incompetents can’t!” The Ba-Matoran threw the sieve to the ground, and promptly left the village, and entered his high-classed MVT. As everyone got to work quickly, even with the heat of midday, Visto bowed to help them to get rid of that money-thirsty leech. What he didn’t know was that his problems had just started. Characters *A Nivawk hawk *A Nui-Jaga -(Deceased) *An Unknow desert creature *Visto *Several Desert Apes **Genx *An Oun-Matoran poacher *A Makika *A Red Serpent *The Leader of the Po-Matoran village *Jaka *Kali *Drekor *Vetaregat Trivia *Though the story is written by User:Abc8920, everything in the story, Tehktra Nui, Visto etc., belongs to User:Ids5621. Category:Tehktra Nui Saga Category:User:Abc8920